Shane and Gillian ready to bop with new baby

By Barry Egan
IT'S OFFICIAL. Irish weather obviously doesn't have the X Factor. Louis Walsh jetted out to Miami on Thursday afternoon for three weeks of r'n'r. No, I don't know what r'n'r stands for either. The X-Factor judge has, of course, a second home in the Florida hot spot of South Beach (or should that be a third home, as he also has a place in St John's Wood in London?) Meanwhile, his charge in Westlife, Shane Filan, has good news. His gorgeous wife Gillian is three months pregnant with their second child (they already have a daughter, Nicole). "It wasn't exactly a surprise to my friends and family," Shane told me, "because we are taking a year off after our big gig at Croke Park. So you could say we timed it perfectly, managing to coordinate having a baby when the band are taking a year off." Shane and Gillian will have a choice of where to raise the new baby when he or she arrives in the summer: They have a seven-bedroom mansion in Surrey and a six-bedroom stately pile in Sligo. Speaking of model mums, Irish supermodel Ali MacDowell recently did a Benetton show with her six-year-old son, Alex. "He stole the show. At the finale, the crowd was clapping and he was still on the ramp. Instead of getting shy, he started jumping up and down with his arms out," Ali told me, adding that Alex and his four-year-old sister Sara have a show together next week. "They get more work than most models in Ireland!" A Cavalli-clad Ali was seen holding court on the Friday of last weekend in Peploe's with her dad Michael and other absolutely fabulous John Compton models Valerie Phelan, Lauren Bannon and Faith. Still on the subject of Irish fashion, Brown Thomas had its Cork Spring Summer season launch on Wednesday at its newly refurbished store (it has recently had a €4m facelift). Among the 350 guests who attended were Marie Chawke, manager of Aghadoe Heights hotel, Mary Purcell of Aer Lingus, Claire Nash, president of the Cork Business Association, and Ronan O'Gara's wife Jessica O'Gara with her sister Katie (presumably they both went to London yesterday to roar on Ronan at Twickenham when he captained Ireland against England? Intriguingly, England rugby legend Johnny Wilkinson -- on the bench yesterday -- will be in Dublin on April 10 to open up the Hackett menswear store on South Anne Street.). The models on the night included reigning Miss Ireland, Blathnaid McKenna (stunning in a Missoni M pink and coral multi-knit striped dress), Kelly O'Byrne (in a black and neon pink butterfly print tunic dress by Matthew Williamson), Aoife Cogan (in a Diane von Furstenberg green parachute silk dress) and Lizanna Kirwan in multi-coloured silkfloral dress by Chloe.
- Barry Egan